Irish Crime Fiction

209 Pages·2018·2.544 MB·English

by  Brian Cliff

Irish Crime
Fiction
Brian Cliff
General Editor: Clive Bloom
Crime Files
Series Editor
Clive Bloom
Professor Emeritus
Middlesex University
London, UK
“The vibrant world of contemporary Irish crime fiction finally has the critical book
it needs and deserves: Brian Cliff’s thoughtful study tracks developments between
and across genres, times and places and offers a nuanced account of the culture and
history of Irish crime writing.”
—Claire Connolly, Professor of Modern English, University
College Cork, Ireland
Since its invention in the nineteenth century, detective fiction has never
been more popular. In novels, short stories and films, on the radio, on
television and now in computer games, private detectives and psycho-
paths, poisoners and overworked cops, tommy gun gangsters and cocaine
criminals are the very stuff of modern imagination, and their creators a
mainstay of popular consciousness. Crime Files is a ground-breaking series
offering scholars, students and discerning readers a comprehensive set of
guides to the world of crime and detective fiction. Every aspect of crime
writing, from detective fiction to the gangster movie, true-crime exposé,
police procedural and post-colonial investigation, is explored through
clear and informative texts offering comprehensive coverage and theoreti-
cal sophistication.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14927
Brian Cliff
Irish Crime Fiction
Brian Cliff
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin, Ireland
Crime Files
ISBN 978-1-137-56187-9 ISBN 978-1-137-56188-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56188-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018935568
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For Marni: L’chayim ha’eleh imakh.
For Maura: I love you to pieces.
A
cknowledgements
I am grateful to Trinity College Dublin for their research support, and
for the career break that allowed me to finish this book. I am particularly
indebted to the following for their support of the festival that led me to
begin this book: Darryl Jones, my Head of School at the time and our
current Dean; Jane Ohlmeyer in her role as the head of Trinity’s globali-
sation efforts, through which the festival had the invaluable help of Julia
Maher, whose energy and creativity elevated the event; and our student
assistants for the festival, including Richard Howard, Caitlín Nic
Íomhair, and Michaela Marková. That festival would not have happened
without my co-organiser Professor John Waters and his colleagues at
New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House, which (with the sup-
port of their Dean, Professor Tom Carew) is an invaluable centre of Irish
research and among the most hospitable of hosts for Irish crime fiction.
The energy and profane good cheer of Joe Long and Seth Kavanagh also
did much to make the weekend what it was. Above all, that event was
lucky to have the contributions of nineteen novelists who gave their
time, energy, and engagement. Additionally, the festival – like everyone
working on or in Irish crime fiction – owes a particular debt to Declan
Burke for his years of work drawing attention to the genre with his own
fiction, with the books he has edited, and with his long-running blog
Crime Always Pays.
Portions of this book were previously published in earlier forms as ‘A
“honeycomb world”: John Connolly’s Charlie Parker Series,’ in The
Contemporary Irish Detective Novel, edited by Elizabeth Mannion
(Palgrave, 2016); and ‘Genre and Uncertainty in Tana French’s Dublin
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Murder Squad Mysteries,’ in Twenty-First Century Popular Fiction, edited
by Bernice Murphy and Stephen Matterson (Edinburgh University Press,
2018). I am grateful for the permission to include this work here.
Much of the thought behind this book was refined through an advanced
seminar I taught with my colleague Christopher Morash in the spring of
2015, with the support of our Head of School, Eve Patten. I am grateful
to Chris for the collaboration, and to our students in that seminar for mak-
ing the semester so rewarding. I have consistently benefited from the
friendship, intellectual challenge, and professional support of numerous
colleagues at Trinity, including Micheál Ó Siochrú, Mark Hennessy, and
Caoimhe ní Bhraonáin in Irish Studies, and my School of English col-
leagues Terence Brown, Clare Clarke, Philip Coleman, Paul Delaney,
Aileen Douglas, Nicholas Grene, Darryl Jones, Jarlath Killeen, Deirdre
Madden, Stephen Matterson, Bernice Murphy, Brendan O’Connell,
David O’Shaughnessy, Eve Patten, Ian Campbell Ross, Sam Slote, Tom
Walker, and Pádraic Whyte. I’m similarly indebted to colleagues else-
where, including Lee Behlman, Patrick Bixby, Alan Cattier, Hugh Cohen,
Brendan Corcoran, Eric Falci, Renee Fox, Jon Greenberg, Geraldine
Higgins, Ronan Kelly, Joseph Lennon, Patricia Matthew, Barry McCrea,
Carole Meyers, Lois Overbeck, Adrian Patterson, Jessica Restaino, Ronald
Schuchard, Éibhear Walshe, John Waters, and particularly Emilie Pine and
Elizabeth Mannion, whose readings of early chapters were incisive and
invariably right. Ellen Clair Lamb was of unfailingly good cheer as she
dispensed good advice and helpful suggestions. I’ve also been fortunate in
the editors that I’ve worked with at Palgrave, especially Vicky Bates, Ben
Doyle, and Tom René, all of whom were warmly helpful and exceedingly
patient at every turn.
I’m grateful for the support of my parents, Tom and Joan Cliff, with
their Midwestern levels of positivity, and for that of my in-laws Lew and
LaVonda Rothman. I was lucky to have Patrick and Betsy Cliff’s encour-
agement, and their ability to edit with the wisdom of journalists; all excess
verbiage (like the word ‘verbiage’) is entirely my fault. Kevin Walter, Diana
Lyon, Vincent Keenan, and Jamie Kaye Walters have long been supportive
and encouraging in all things. Sam Rothman, John Hankin, Shane
Rothman, Whitney Ballard, Luke Rothman, and Jared Fronk: thanks,
always, for being such a welcoming family. Charlie, Gus, Logan, and Ezra
did me the invaluable favour of letting me know someone out there thinks
I’m reliably funny. Chuey contributed just by raising everyone’s spirits, as
has Elven.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S ix
Above all, I am thankful beyond words for my wife Marni Rothman
and my daughter Maura Cliff, for their patience, their love, their faith in
my ability to see this through, and, well, just because. My world would be
a greyer one without you.
c
ontents
1 I ntroduction 1
2 Northern Irish Crime Fiction 25
3 Crime Fiction and Contemporary Ireland 67
4 Women and Irish Crime Fiction 101
5 Transnational Irish Crime Fiction 141
Conclusion 181
Further Reading 185
Index 197
xi